LONDON — Who among us haven’t had a nightmare luggage story to tell? From lost baggage to spilled contents to broken wheels and more, there’s never a shortage of gruesome gear tales on the worldwide web to browse through.
But here’s one that may just take the cake. According to Travel + Leisure, Jiwon Choi was recently reunited with her suitcase after flying from Seville to London Gatwick with easyJet, only to find that it had exploded.
That’s right, it literally looked like a bomb had exploded from within her luggage, with contents spilling out and the exterior pocket completely shredded. Choi confirmed on Facebook after commenters suggested a possible explosion that she “did not carry any dangerous or restricted items, and indeed there is no sense of fire.” She also noted that there was no burning smell, nothing melted, and items like paper survived without being burnt.
So what happened?
After reporting her damaged suitcase to the easyJet service desk, she was told by staff that it had fallen off a cargo vehicle and was possibly dragged all the way down the roadway. She was also told that it could have been jammed beneath the conveyor belt.
Ouch.
To add insult to injury, Choi claims easyJet staff offered not even a hint of an apology, and instead simply asked for proof of damage.
“Without any single word of apologies, they asked me to send more photos ‘clearly showing the brand of luggage’. I was also asked to provide information such as the number of wheels it had, and dimension of the suitcase,” she wrote.
In response, easyJet told the Daily Mail that it is “sorry for the damage caused to Ms. Choi’s bag whilst in transit.” It also promised to “work closely with all of our airport partners to ensure our passengers’ bags are handled securely and with care”, and that it’s conducting an investigation with its ground handling provider at London Gatwick Airport.
The airline also made sure to point out that it flies on average over 1,700 flights per day across more than 30 countries, and “incidents of damaged luggage are extremely low”. Not sure how that will help Choi in the long run, but hopefully easyJet will follow up on its promise to contact her in a “gesture of goodwill for inconvenience caused.”